Sampling and measurement methods for a study of childhood refractive error in a UK population

Background There is a paucity of data describing the prevalence of childhood refractive error in the United Kingdom. The Northern Ireland Childhood Errors of Refraction study, along with its sister study the Aston Eye Study, are the first population-based surveys of children using both random cluster sampling and cycloplegic autorefraction to quantify levels of refractive error in the United Kingdom. Methods Children aged 6–7 years and 12–13 years were recruited from a stratified random sample of primary and post-primary schools, representative of the population of Northern Ireland as a whole. Measurements included assessment of visual acuity, oculomotor balance, ocular biometry and cycloplegic binocular open-field autorefraction. Questionnaires were used to identify putative risk factors for refractive error. Results 399 (57%) of 6–7 years and 669 (60%) of 12–13 years participated. School participation rates did not vary statistically significantly with the size of the school, whether the school is urban or rural, or whether it is in a deprived/non-deprived area. The gender balance, ethnicity and type of schooling of participants are reflective of the Northern Ireland population. Conclusions The study design, sample size and methodology will ensure accurate measures of the prevalence of refractive errors in the target population and will facilitate comparisons with other population-based refractive data.

Medication error in mental health:implications for primary care

Medication errors are associated with significant morbidity and people with mental health problems may be particularly susceptible to medication errors due to various factors. Primary care has a key role in improving medication safety in this vulnerable population. The complexity of services, involving primary and secondary care and social services, and potential training issues may increase error rates, with physical medicines representing a particular risk. Service users may be cognitively impaired and fail to identify an error placing additional responsibilities on clinicians. The potential role of carers in error prevention and medication safety requires further elaboration. A potential lack of trust between service users and clinicians may impair honest communication about medication issues leading to errors. There is a need for detailed research within this field.

Learning with noise and regularizers in multilayer neural networks

We study the effect of two types of noise, data noise and model noise, in an on-line gradient-descent learning scenario for general two-layer student network with an arbitrary number of hidden units. Training examples are randomly drawn input vectors labeled by a two-layer teacher network with an arbitrary number of hidden units. Data is then corrupted by Gaussian noise affecting either the output or the model itself. We examine the effect of both types of noise on the evolution of order parameters and the generalization error in various phases of the learning process.

Learning with regularizers in multilayer neural networks

We study the effect of regularization in an on-line gradient-descent learning scenario for a general two-layer student network with an arbitrary number of hidden units. Training examples are randomly drawn input vectors labelled by a two-layer teacher network with an arbitrary number of hidden units which may be corrupted by Gaussian output noise. We examine the effect of weight decay regularization on the dynamical evolution of the order parameters and generalization error in various phases of the learning process, in both noiseless and noisy scenarios.

Visual acuity measures do not reliably detect childhood refractive error - an epidemiological study

Purpose To investigate the utility of uncorrected visual acuity measures in screening for refractive error in white school children aged 6-7-years and 12-13-years. Methods The Northern Ireland Childhood Errors of Refraction (NICER) study used a stratified random cluster design to recruit children from schools in Northern Ireland. Detailed eye examinations included assessment of logMAR visual acuity and cycloplegic autorefraction. Spherical equivalent refractive data from the right eye were used to classify significant refractive error as myopia of at least 1DS, hyperopia as greater than +3.50DS and astigmatism as greater than 1.50DC, whether it occurred in isolation or in association with myopia or hyperopia. Results Results are presented from 661 white 12-13-year-old and 392 white 6-7-year-old school-children. Using a cut-off of uncorrected visual acuity poorer than 0.20 logMAR to detect significant refractive error gave a sensitivity of 50% and specificity of 92% in 6-7-year-olds and 73% and 93% respectively in 12-13-year-olds. In 12-13-year-old children a cut-off of poorer than 0.20 logMAR had a sensitivity of 92% and a specificity of 91% in detecting myopia and a sensitivity of 41% and a specificity of 84% in detecting hyperopia. Conclusions Vision screening using logMAR acuity can reliably detect myopia, but not hyperopia or astigmatism in school-age children. Providers of vision screening programs should be cognisant that where detection of uncorrected hyperopic and/or astigmatic refractive error is an aspiration, current UK protocols will not effectively deliver.

The human factors of automatic speech recognition in control room systems

This thesis addresses the viability of automatic speech recognition for control room systems; with careful system design, automatic speech recognition (ASR) devices can be useful means for human computer interaction in specific types of task. These tasks can be defined as complex verbal activities, such as command and control, and can be paired with spatial tasks, such as monitoring, without detriment. It is suggested that ASR use be confined to routine plant operation, as opposed the critical incidents, due to possible problems of stress on the operators' speech.  It is proposed that using ASR will require operators to adapt a commonly used skill to cater for a novel use of speech. Before using the ASR device, new operators will require some form of training. It is shown that a demonstration by an experienced user of the device can lead to superior performance than instructions. Thus, a relatively cheap and very efficient form of operator training can be supplied by demonstration by experienced ASR operators. From a series of studies into speech based interaction with computers, it is concluded that the interaction be designed to capitalise upon the tendency of operators to use short, succinct, task specific styles of speech. From studies comparing different types of feedback, it is concluded that operators be given screen based feedback, rather than auditory feedback, for control room operation. Feedback will take two forms: the use of the ASR device will require recognition feedback, which will be best supplied using text; the performance of a process control task will require task feedback integrated into the mimic display. This latter feedback can be either textual or symbolic, but it is suggested that symbolic feedback will be more beneficial. Related to both interaction style and feedback is the issue of handling recognition errors. These should be corrected by simple command repetition practices, rather than use error handling dialogues. This method of error correction is held to be non intrusive to primary command and control operations. This thesis also addresses some of the problems of user error in ASR use, and provides a number of recommendations for its reduction.

The accuracy of parameter estimation from noisy data, with application to resonance peak estimation in distributed Brillouin sensing

Distributed Brillouin sensing of strain and temperature works by making spatially resolved measurements of the position of the measurand-dependent extremum of the resonance curve associated with the scattering process in the weakly nonlinear regime. Typically, measurements of backscattered Stokes intensity (the dependent variable) are made at a number of predetermined fixed frequencies covering the design measurand range of the apparatus and combined to yield an estimate of the position of the extremum. The measurand can then be found because its relationship to the position of the extremum is assumed known. We present analytical expressions relating the relative error in the extremum position to experimental errors in the dependent variable. This is done for two cases: (i) a simple non-parametric estimate of the mean based on moments and (ii) the case in which a least squares technique is used to fit a Lorentzian to the data. The question of statistical bias in the estimates is discussed and in the second case we go further and present for the first time a general method by which the probability density function (PDF) of errors in the fitted parameters can be obtained in closed form in terms of the PDFs of the errors in the noisy data.

Learning in ultrametric committee machines

The problem of learning by examples in ultrametric committee machines (UCMs) is studied within the framework of statistical mechanics. Using the replica formalism we calculate the average generalization error in UCMs with L hidden layers and for a large enough number of units. In most of the regimes studied we find that the generalization error, as a function of the number of examples presented, develops a discontinuous drop at a critical value of the load parameter. We also find that when L>1 a number of teacher networks with the same number of hidden layers and different overlaps induce learning processes with the same critical points.

The accuracy of parameter estimation from noisy data, with application to resonance peak estimation in distributed Brillouin sensing

Distributed Brillouin sensing of strain and temperature works by making spatially resolved measurements of the position of the measurand-dependent extremum of the resonance curve associated with the scattering process in the weakly nonlinear regime. Typically, measurements of backscattered Stokes intensity (the dependent variable) are made at a number of predetermined fixed frequencies covering the design measurand range of the apparatus and combined to yield an estimate of the position of the extremum. The measurand can then be found because its relationship to the position of the extremum is assumed known. We present analytical expressions relating the relative error in the extremum position to experimental errors in the dependent variable. This is done for two cases: (i) a simple non-parametric estimate of the mean based on moments and (ii) the case in which a least squares technique is used to fit a Lorentzian to the data. The question of statistical bias in the estimates is discussed and in the second case we go further and present for the first time a general method by which the probability density function (PDF) of errors in the fitted parameters can be obtained in closed form in terms of the PDFs of the errors in the noisy data.

Medication errors in mental healthcare:a systematic review

Methods: It has been estimated that medication error harms 1-2% of patients admitted to general hospitals. There has been no previous systematic review of the incidence, cause or type of medication error in mental healthcare services. Methods: A systematic literature search for studies that examined the incidence or cause of medication error in one or more stage(s) of the medication-management process in the setting of a community or hospital-based mental healthcare service was undertaken. The results in the context of the design of the study and the denominator used were examined. Results: All studies examined medication management processes, as opposed to outcomes. The reported rate of error was highest in studies that retrospectively examined drug charts, intermediate in those that relied on reporting by pharmacists to identify error and lowest in those that relied on organisational incident reporting systems. Only a few of the errors identified by the studies caused actual harm, mostly because they were detected and remedial action was taken before the patient received the drug. The focus of the research was on inpatients and prescriptions dispensed by mental health pharmacists. Conclusion: Research about medication error in mental healthcare is limited. In particular, very little is known about the incidence of error in non-hospital settings or about the harm caused by it. Evidence is available from other sources that a substantial number of adverse drug events are caused by psychotropic drugs. Some of these are preventable and might probably, therefore, be due to medication error. On the basis of this and features of the organisation of mental healthcare that might predispose to medication error, priorities for future research are suggested.

Is pupil diameter influenced by refractive error?

Purpose: To investigate the relationship between pupil diameter and refractive error and how refractive correction, target luminance, and accommodation modulate this relationship. Methods: Sixty emmetropic, myopic, and hyperopic subjects (age range, 18 to 35 years) viewed an illuminated target (luminance: 10, 100, 200, 400, 1000, 2000, and 4100 cd/m2) within a Badal optical system, at 0 diopters (D) and −3 D vergence, with and without refractive correction. Refractive error was corrected using daily disposable contact lenses. Pupil diameter and accommodation were recorded continuously using a commercially available photorefractor. Results: No significant difference in pupil diameter was found between the refractive groups at 0 D or −3 D target vergence, in the corrected or uncorrected conditions. As expected, pupil diameter decreased with increasing luminance. Target vergence had no significant influence on pupil diameter. In the corrected condition, at 0 D target vergence, the accommodation response was similar in all refractive groups. At −3 D target vergence, the emmetropic and myopic groups accommodated significantly more than the hyperopic group at all luminance levels. There was no correlation between accommodation response and pupil diameter or refractive error in any refractive group. In the uncorrected condition, the accommodation response was significantly greater in the hyperopic group than in the myopic group at all luminance levels, particularly for near viewing. In the hyperopic group, the accommodation response was significantly correlated with refractive error but not pupil diameter. In the myopic group, accommodation response level was not correlated with refractive error or pupil diameter. Conclusions: Refractive error has no influence on pupil diameter, irrespective of refractive correction or accommodative demand. This suggests that the pupil is controlled by the pupillary light reflex and is not driven by retinal blur.

The effects of material variations in high value manufacturing industries

It has never been easy for manufacturing companies to understand their confidence level in terms of how accurate and to what degree of flexibility parts can be made. This brings uncertainty in finding the most suitable manufacturing method as well as in controlling their product and process verification systems. The aim of this research is to develop a system for capturing the company’s knowledge and expertise and then reflect it into an MRP (Manufacturing Resource Planning) system. A key activity here is measuring manufacturing and machining capabilities to a reasonable confidence level. For this purpose an in-line control measurement system is introduced to the company. Using SPC (Statistical Process Control) not only helps to predict the trend in manufacturing of parts but also minimises the human error in measurement. Gauge R&R (Repeatability and Reproducibility) study identifies problems in measurement systems. Measurement is like any other process in terms of variability. Reducing this variation via an automated machine probing system helps to avoid defects in future products.Developments in aerospace, nuclear, oil and gas industries demand materials with high performance and high temperature resistance under corrosive and oxidising environments. Superalloys were developed in the latter half of the 20th century as high strength materials for such purposes. For the same characteristics superalloys are considered as difficult-to-cut alloys when it comes to formation and machining. Furthermore due to the sensitivity of superalloy applications, in many cases they should be manufactured with tight tolerances. In addition superalloys, specifically Nickel based, have unique features such as low thermal conductivity due to having a high amount of Nickel in their material composition. This causes a high surface temperature on the work-piece at the machining stage which leads to deformation in the final product.Like every process, the material variations have a significant impact on machining quality. The main cause of variations can originate from chemical composition and mechanical hardness. The non-uniform distribution of metal elements is a major source of variation in metallurgical structures. Different heat treatment standards are designed for processing the material to the desired hardness levels based on application. In order to take corrective actions, a study on the material aspects of superalloys has been conducted. In this study samples from different batches of material have been analysed. This involved material preparation for microscopy analysis, and the effect of chemical compositions on hardness (before and after heat treatment). Some of the results are discussed and presented in this paper.

Lecturers' experiences of assessing generic skills in an active learning environment for engineering education in Malaysia - Emergent findings

The aim of this paper is to explore the engineering lecturers' experiences of generic skills assessment within an active learning context in Malaysia. Using a case-study methodology, lecturers' assessment approaches were investigated regarding three generic skills; verbal communication, problem solving and team work. Because of the importance to learning of the assessment of such skills it is this assessment that is discussed. The findings show the lecturers' initial feedback to have been generally lacking in substance, since they have limited knowledge and experience of assessing generic skills. Typical barriers identified during the study included; generic skills not being well defined, inadequate alignment across the engineering curricula and teaching approaches, assessment practices that were too flexible, particular those to do with implementation; and a failure to keep up to date with industrial requirements. The emerging findings of the interviews reinforce the arguments that there is clearly much room for improvement in the present state of generic skills assessment.